


Trapped.

by unacaritafeliz



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, also there's still like... romance and shit in here, please read it, this isn't too gross or gorey I don't think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 14:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17562599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unacaritafeliz/pseuds/unacaritafeliz
Summary: Nursey follows as Dex quietly sneaks around the fence. There doesn't seem to be too much in there - besides the trucks, there are maybe a half dozen or so walkers, walking lazily around the compound. From this distance, Nursey can see some faded logos on the brands but nothing recognizable. He still has no idea of what could be inside of them."No idea what's inside the trucks, but doesn't look too hard to get in and check," Dex says, as if Nursey hadn't come to this conclusion himself. "I reckon we go check it out."Something about it doesn't seem quite right to Nursey, but he can't find any real logical reason to doubt it. They're out looking for supplies - it would be counterproductive to not check these ones out."Okay," Nursey says. "Let's go."[The Post-Samwell Zombie Apocalypse fic no one asked for]





	Trapped.

Dex is yelling at him.

Nursey isn't really sure why he's surprised about this, not even the literal end of the world was enough to get Dex to stop yelling at him, but he did kind of feels like since he came with Dex on this stupid supply run literally no one else wanted to go on, he should at least get the day off from being Dex's punching bag.

If only he was that lucky.

"Will you fucking chill?" Nursey snaps, the second Dex stops ranting long enough to take a breath. "It's a fucking miracle every walker in the state hasn't been lured here by your voice."

"Yeah well if they came then they'd probably wipe us out in five seconds because apparently, after all these years, you still don't know how to kill a walker properly," Dex says.

Nursey rolls his eyes. For someone who studied programming before the world turned bad, Dex sure is shit at applying logic to any situation.

"Then it's even more important that you shut the fuck up," Nursey hisses. "And, in case you haven't noticed, Poindexter I've actually survived this goddamn apocalypse just as long as you have."

"Only because you have the rest of us to babysit you," Dex snaps.

If Nursey's being honest with himself, which he rarely allows himself to be these days, that does stings a little bit, the thought that Dex think Nursey joining supply runs is a burden, rather than a benefit. He forces himself to roll his eyes anyway, pulling up all his chill defenses, unwilling to let Dex see how hurt he is.

"Whatever," says Nursey. "Hopefully we can find some supplies soon so we can go home. Maybe next time you can take Tango out with you instead."

"Maybe I will," Dex says, petulantly, like a child.

"Fine," says Nursey.

"Fine," says Dex.

Nursey rolls his eyes, and keeps walking. Dex is honestly exhausting to be around; half the time he won't leave Nursey's side, acting like their best friends, but the other half is like he can't even stand to be breathing the same air as Nursey. Every time Nursey even begins thinking their on the same page about their relationship, friendship, whatever, Dex jumps into a completely different book.

Or something like that, anyway. Nursey's metaphors aren't as good as they used to be. He hasn't really had time to practice his writing lately, what with the actual world ending and everything.

"Hey, Nurse," Dex calls out. Nursey suddenly realises Dex has stopped several paces behind him. "I think there's something over here."

Nursey doubles back and follows Dex's line of sight. The sun shines brightly through a small gap in the trees, and Nursey can see some kind of iron-linked fence in the middle distance.

"Let's check it out," Nursey says.

Dex leads the way toward the fence, his knife raised in the air ready to attack. The forrest ends a little far away from the fence, which seems to be enclosing some sort of loading dock; Nursey can see a couple of trucks on the other side. There's one walker hanging on the gate, growling and trying to get to them. As soon as they're close enough, Dex sticks his knife through it's skull with little ceremony and it falls to the ground.

"I'm not going crazy, right?" Dex asks, linking his fingers through the fence and staring up at the trucks. "You can see this too?"

Nursey can understand why Dex thinks he's hallucinating. They've been walking for a few days without finding anything worthwhile to take back to camp, just to suddenly stumble across what seems to be several truckloads of supplies.

"I see it, but I don't believe it," Nursey says. "Seems to good to be true."

"Maybe we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth," says Dex, shrugging. "Come on, let's scope it out, at least."

Nursey follows as Dex quietly sneaks around the fence. There doesn't seem to be too much in there - besides the trucks, there are maybe a half dozen or so walkers, walking lazily around the compound. From this distance, Nursey can see some faded logos on the brands but nothing recognizable. He still has no idea of what could be inside of them.

"No idea what's inside the trucks, but doesn't look too hard to get in and check," Dex says, as if Nursey hadn't come to this conclusion himself. "I reckon we go check it out."

Something about it doesn't seem quite right to Nursey, but he can't find any real logical reason to doubt it. They're out looking for supplies - it would be counterproductive to not check these ones out.

"Okay," Nursey says. "Let's go."

"I'll get the walkers," says Dex.

Nursey rolls his eyes, but steps back to let Dex show off his misplaced chivalry and masculinity. Dex scrapes his knife along the gate gently, and the walkers slowly make their way over to him. He quickly sorts them out and then opens the gate, gesturing Nursey through.

Nursey steps over the walker corpses and hops up onto the little raised platform behind the trucks and examines them. Even up close, there's nothing indicating what might be inside. He squats down at the base of one of the trucks. The rear door doesn't seem to be locked which is lucky for them because he's really not in mood to watch Dex pick the lock like some kind of swole post-apocalyptic Harry Houdini.

"You gonna open it or what, Nurse," Dex says.

"Chill," Nursey says. He reaches out towards the door of the truck "Let's see what we got!"

He knows something's wrong from the second the door starts moving.

It starts with the smell, the all-too-familiar rotting corpse smell that only comes from hoardes of walkers.

Then it's the sound, not only the hauntingly familiar groaning of walkers, but the distinctive sound of the truck door hitting the roof not once, not twice, but seven complete times.

Nursey's brain finally pieces together the reality that every truck in the lot contained a hoarde of walkers, and that every truck in the lot has somehow opened simultaneously, releasing said walkers into the space where he and Dex are standing, and every molecule in his body starts panicking.

"Oh shit!" Nursey yells.

"Nursey, come on!" Dex yells, grabbing Nursey by the forearm and dragging him down the stairs toward the fence.

Nursey nearly trips over his own feet in his haste to keep up with Dex. His heart is beating right out of his chest - it doesn't matter how many hoardes he's fought against, it never gets any less terrifying for him. Looking forward, Nursey notices there are even more walkers moving towards them from the front, and he stops running, pulling Dex back with him.

"Here, under here," Nursey yells, pushing Dex to get under the nearest truck before diving under it himself.

It's a bad call - there seems to be even more walkers on the other side of the truck, and plenty of them have dropped to the ground, trying to wriggle their way towards them. Nursey can't stop the panic rising inside of him; after everything they've been through, they're going to die here, under a fucking truck, and get devoured by walkers. The rest of the team will never even know what happened to them.

"Nursey, come on," Dex yells again.

Nursey scrambles after him on instinct, without any rational idea of what Dex is planning to do. Dex, for his part, seems to have found a length of iron-link chain from somewhere and is currently using it to take off the heads of walker after walker. Nursey allows himself one brief, nearly subconscious, moment to appreciate how fucking hot Dex looks like this, before joining the battle himself.

They move together, quickly but as carefully as possible, taking out more walkers than they probably have ever done in their lives. It barely seems to be making a dent though, the walkers just keep coming. The fence is too far away; they're not going to make it.

"Derek!" Dex yells. "Derek! This way - there's a car."

Nursey turns and sure enough, there's a car - a little weather beaten but structurally in tact - sitting in the middle of the yard, on the side of them where the walkers seem the least dense. Every molecule in his body screams at him not to go to the car, but he doesn't think he has any other choice. He turns around, managing to kill a walker just as it was about to get Dex, and makes up his mind. Together he and Dex run to the car. Dex opens the door and throws himself in head first. Nursey follows behind.

Nursey moves to slam the door but it gets caught on a walker's head. His heart still beating fast, Nursey tries again and again to slam the door. Eventually, with a disgusting squelch Nursey won't ever be able to unhear, the door slams shut.

"Knew it looked too good to be true," he mutters, angrily stuffing his knife back into it's carrier.

"Fuck," Dex swears, thumping his head against the steering wheel. "Who the fuck would even rig up something like that?"

"I don't know," says Nursey. He turns around to inspect the back seat of the car, frowning when he finds it's completely empty. "But I'm honestly not keen on waiting around to find out."

Dex shivers and ducks to look under the steering wheel. "There's no way this car is starting," he says. "We just have to sit here and hope something comes by to distract the walkers before whoever set this trap comes back."

"Nothing's going to come and distract the walkers," Nursey says, opening the glove compartment. It's empty too, and he slams it shut with more force than is necessary.

"Do you have a better suggestion, Nurse?" Dex snaps.

"Maybe I would if you just shut up and let me think," Nursey snaps back.

For the first time since they met, way back in Samwell all those years ago, Dex's mouth snaps shut without an argument. Nursey closes his eyes, trying block out all distractions so he can focus on a solution. It's impossible to think - even though he can't see them, he can't block out the sounds of the walkers, groaning and banging against the metal of the car. He wish he'd thought to bring his scavenged iPod with him, a little ATCQ would have helped him think.

But he doesn't have his iPod. All he has is a car that doesn't work, a redhead that hates him, a million walkers and God knows how little time.

There's one obvious plan, swirling in the depths of his mind, but he refuses to call it to the front. There has to be another way. There has to be.

"Nurse," says Dex, his voice softer than Nursey's ever heard it. Nursey opens his eyes and looks toward Dex. He's staring straight ahead, looking at the walkers without really seeing them. His shoulders are slumped, looking more defeated than Nursey can ever remember him looking.

"What?" Nursey asks.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Dex says. "You're great at killing walkers, and you're my favourite person to take with me on supply runs. I just worry about you a lot, and don't really know to express it."

Nursey gapes at him, almost unable to believe what he's hearing.

"Not that I don't appreciate the apology," he says, a little thickly. "But is this really the time?"

"Now might be the only time," Dex says, his voice rough. He turns to look at Nursey. There's no fire in his eyes. "We're out of options, Nurse. the only choice we have now is whether we give ourselves up to these walkers, or to whatever sociopath set this horrifying trap."

Nursey shakes his head. Dex is wrong, there is one more option, one that gives a nonzero chance that one of them makes it out alive. It's crazy, and terrifying, but Nursey know, just by looking at Dex's dumb freckle-covered face, that he's has to do it.

God, he's really going to sacrifice himself for a white man just like every other cliched person of colour in an apocalypse story, isn't he? He hopes Foxtrot never finds out.

God, his heart hurts when he thinks of Foxtrot. Of her, and Chowder, and Jack and Bitty, of Rans, Holtz, Lardo, Shitty and the rest of the team back home waiting for them. He never got to say goodbye to any of them. It isn't fair.

"There's one more option," says Nursey, in his closest approximation of Jack's Captain Voice. "I can lead them out, that way, as far away from the fence as I can. The second your path is clear enough, you can make a break for the fence."

Dex stares at him like he's grown a second head, or asked Dex to talk about his feelings. "No," Dex says.

"Look, we can't wait here," says Nursey, a little desperately. "We can't let ourselves be captured. Anyone who designs a trap like this is dangerous as hell, and if they get us it might hurt everyone back home too."

"You can't just lead them away from the fence, Nurse, you'll..." Dex trails off, apparently unable to finish that thought. Nursey can't blame him - he doesn't want to hear it out loud either. "No."

"Come on, Poindexter," Nursey says, trying to lighten the mood. "Freshman year of college you probably would've pushed me to the walkers yourself."

Dex's eyes flash angrily. "That's not funny," he says.

Nursey sighs, holding up his hands in a placating gesture.

"If there was another option I'd take it," Nursey says.

Dex exhales in frustration and turns to looks out the window, biting his lip as he glares up at the walker closest to him. He's quiet for a long time, and Nursey can basically hear all the gears turning in his head.

"You don't lead them off," Dex says, finally. He doesn't look back at Nursey. "We fight. We go for the fence. We do it together."

Nursey gapes at him in disbelief. It's a fools plan; there's no way they could make it to the fence, and Dex knows that as well as he does. It's lowering both of their odds of survival in the dumbest of possible ways.

"Dex..." Nursey starts. "We can't - we could both..."

"Whether we make it or not," Dex continues, as if Nursey hadn't spoken. He turns to look at Nursey. "We do it together. We have to."

Dex reaches across the console and takes Nursey's hand in his. He entwines their fingers together and squeezes.

"We have to," he repeats.

Nursey stares down at their hands, at where Dex's pale fingers interlace with his dark ones. Their entire relationship flashes before his eyes. They've been defense partners, roommates, supply run buddies. Even when they couldn't stand each other, even when they were yelling and screaming and seconds away from a physical brawl, they've always been a team. They've always done things together.

He'd honestly thought that their next team activity would be dating not death, but it's the apocalypse. He doesn't really get the luxury of choice anymore.

"Alright," Nursey says, squeezing Dex's hand. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," Dex says. He pulls his fingers away from Nursey's to reach for his knife, and somehow the loss of contact feels worse to Nursey than the 99.999% chance he's about to be torn apart by walkers.

"Okay," Nursey says. "Let's go on three."

"Okay," Dex echoes.

Nursey takes a deep breath and unsheathes his knife from it's carrier. He's always been fond of it, but it looks like nothing more than a pushpin to him now. There's no way a knife like this can go up against that many walkers.

He exhales slowly and sends a prayer up to every god his parents ever mentioned.

"Okay," he says. "One..."

"Derek, wait, before we go, I have to tell you..." Dex says.

Nursey turns to look at Dex just as the window behind Dex's head goes red with blood.

"What the...?" Nursey starts.

Dex turns to face the door just as it's wretched open. "Come on!" yells out a familiar voice; a deep, assertive voice with a Californian accent Derek could identify anywhere.

Part of him wonders if he's died already.

Dex leaps from the car and Nursey follows him. He moves on autopilot toward the gate, slashing at any walkers that stumble to close to him. He can't see Dex or Chowder - if it even was Chowder - with all these distractions, he just keeps moving - unwilling to entertain the thought that Dex and Chowder aren't moving too.

The gate to the complex closes as soon as he's through it, and Nursey falls to the ground gasping for breath. He braces himself and takes one slow breath, and then another, and then turns around to see Will Poindexter bent in half with his hands on his knees - red faced and out of breath, but very much alive - and Chris Franklin fucking Chow - standing in the sunlight like a goddamn Disney Prince, chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath.

"Fuck," Nursey exhales. "Thanks for the assist, C."

Chowder waves his hand dismissively. "Lucky Cait sent me out looking for you guys, really," he says.

Goddamn Caitlin Farmer. She's the best thing that's ever happened to the three of them.

"We gotta get going before whoever set that trap comes back," Nursey says. He doesn't move. He can't quite find the energy to pull himself off the ground.

"Here," Dex says, walking over and holding his hand out towards Nursey. "I've got you."

Nursey takes it and lets Dex pull him to his feet. He over balances, and Dex grabs his hips to stable him. Their faces end up almost impossibly close to each other. Nursey can count every pale eyelash surrounding Dex's eyes.

"Thanks," Nursey says.

Dex doesn't move away though. He keeps one hand on Nursey's hip, and brings the other up to touch his face, gently cradling it. He swipes his thumb gently across Nursey's cheekbone.

"We nearly died," Dex says, his voice thick with tears.

Nursey chokes on a sob. He reaches up to grasp the wrist of the hand Dex is currently cradling his face with, trying to ground them both.

"We didn't," Nursey says.

Dex kisses him.

Maybe Nursey's wrong, maybe they did die after all. Maybe this is just his brain's last attempt at happiness before it shuts down altogether.

Or maybe, he and Dex have actually been on the same page the whole time.

Either way, he's taking as much of this as he can get. He snakes his free hand around Dex's back, pushing them even closer together. Dex tilts his head, deepening the kiss and God, Nursey would fight a hoarde of walkers every day just for this.

Okay, maybe not a full hoarde every day... But it's still a pretty fucking good kiss.

"Uh, guys," Chowder says, awkwardly from behind them. "Not that this isn't 'swawesome, because it totally is and I'm super happy for you guys, but like, we do need to go, like now. So maybe you guys can revisit this later?"

Nursey pulls away from Dex and smiles at him. Dex smiles back and Nursey can't help but lean back in to press one more chaste kiss to Dex's lips.

"Okay," Nursey says, entwining his fingers with Dex's. "We'll talk about it later."

Chowder grins. "Alright!" he says. "Let's head back to camp, okay? Rans and Holtzy managed to track down a warehouse of supplies, so we can regroup and head out with them to explore that later."

"Okay," says Dex. He doesn't let go of Nursey's hand as they turn to follow Chowder. "Oh and C, one more thing?"

Chowder hums to indicate he's listening.

"I mean, I appreciate the save and everything, but don't ever pull that shit again," Dex says. "You could have fucking died."

Nursey can't help the laugh that bubbles out of his chest. He's not sure how he fell in love with such an emotionally repressed white boy that expresses all of his feelings as anger but hey, the world ended, he thinks he should get a free pass.

**Author's Note:**

> After Nursey decides to sacrifice himself for Dex, I **almost** had "God, Foxtrot would kill him if she were **still** here" but I COULDN'T DO IT, I COULDN'T KILL OFF FOXTROT. She's back at their home base, no doubt dealing with some other drama that's happening in this godforsaken universe.
> 
> BTW this isn't super creative, [it's basically a rip-off of a scene in episode 5x16 of The Walking Dead](https://youtu.be/oG27c7ftOlM) but with more bickering gays and less plotholes. I haven't actually watched The Walking Dead since they did Glenn and Sasha dirty in season 7, but I'm still obsessed with Zombie Apocalypse AUs and couldn't get this one out of my head.
> 
> (also I know the Christmas fic is still unfinished I'M SORRY OKAY)


End file.
